I saw it's cousin, the AEB-1, in person about 20 years ago in Oklahoma. There was a gentleman at work that was retiring, and he told me he had a couple of old bass rigs he was going to get rid of. So I dropped by his house...picked up a Sunn Concert Bass with the 2x15 cab, and a Kustom K250 with the 2x15 cab (in black) but I digress.

Anyhow, he told me he had a few old basses too. He wasn't going to sell them unfortunately. One was an old Jazz, maybe a '60 or '62. Then he pulls out this funky Ampeg. Alas, he knew what it was worth and wouldn't sell it.

I've only seen pics of this particular design, but check out the other Ampeg 'scroll' basses from around that period....they look pretty fine as well. Though someone brought one to a (blues) jam the other week and I was unimpressed with the sound. Looked great though!

At the moment, I have five of them here in my shop. Two of them I have in my own personal collection, and three are customers' instruments here for restoration. I was working on one of them this afternoon, scraping the paint off the neck and preparing it for structural repairs.

Yes, they are strange old basses with a lot of problems in the design and construction. The "mystery" pickup is a mechanical-percussive diaphragm pickup. The bridge is mounted on a drum-like steel diaphragm, and a magnetic coil detects the movement of the diaphragm, not the strings. It creates a unique sound with a heavy pulse on the attack curve. It'll never sound like a normal modern bass. You may love it or hate it.